Magical Mayfly:
With cold weather delaying our spring by a good few weeks the Mayfly season threatened to be a nonstarter this year. Admittedly this grand ephemeridmight have been slow to get going with initial reports suggesting patchy activity. However, they were about in sufficient numbers to get trout excited. Naturally those fabled chalkstreams like the Test and Itchen produced wonderful sport, but rivers further north got in on the action too. The Yorkshire Rye in particular was treated to a good show of duns and spinner falls when it was possible to experience rising fish all day long.

Land of Ice and Fire:
The plan was to visit Iceland in late June when during a normal year it would be the height of their trout season. Yet, just like us, Iceland suffered chilly Arctic temperatures, pegging back things back by a good few weeks. Thankfully, as midges constitute much of the trout’s diet here, fly hatches weren’t affected too badly. The nagging northerly wind however meant it was an overcoat colder, even on Mid Summer’s Day. Come evening time that chilly breeze dropped enough for tiny midge to be filtered into feeding lanes which had trout looking up for supper. If anything, despite such a harsh winter the trout were as fat as ever making for a memorable trip.

Orvis Leaders:
Orvis Super Strong tapered leaders have long since been considered the best when it comes to delivering a fly both delicately and accurately. However, not ones for resting on their laurels the Orvis R&D team have totally overhauled their entire leader range by designing new tapers. The result is a selection of cutting edge tapered leaders in various lengths and tippet diameters that will cope with whatever the weather cares to throw at us.

Blue-Winged olives:
It’s that time of year when Blue-Winged Olives (B-WOs) think of stretching their wings. Their size might be puny when compared to our beloved Mayfly, but why we make such a song and dance about them is their reputation for blizzard like hatches. And once hatches get underway, we can usually expect reasonable dry fly sport almost every evening, especially when warm weather prevails. Better still is the vast range of this unassuming olive when it can pop up from the most fertile of lowland chalkstreams to the racing pools of a Scottish stream.

2013 Schools and Courses:
Whether you’re a beginner out to learn the ropes or a more seasoned rod looking for advanced techniques, covering all aspects of fly fishing, Orvis have a full compliment of schools and courses scheduled for 2013. Be it trout or salmon these include one day and residential courses from the Highlands of Scotland down to the Chalkstreams of Hampshire.